Chapter 16, The Map Room Summary

Louis follows Speaker to the map room. There is a huge holographic ring and video screen displays showing tape of the ring. The controls are heavily ornamented. Speaker thought they were live images until he tried to find Fist-of-God and the crashed ship. The huge mountain isn't on the video tapes. Speaker has located a linear accelerator, accessed by elevators and used to travel around the Ringworld. Speaker has also found their location, and there is a huge ocean bay between them and the rim wall. In the ocean, there are islands that mimic the geography of the planets represented around the map room.

The nearest spaceport is 700,000 miles farther than the rim, but Louis hopes that there may be signs of civilization there, from returning spacecraft. Speaker has also found blank areas on the tape, either...